Post documents and questions for the Scituate Grade 10 Task Here:
English 2 Unit: The Good Society Lord of the Flies Ch. 7 Connections: PARCC Sample Exercise
Objectives:
To reflect on events in chapter seven to explore how “mob mentality” affects decision-making and actions.
To critically read non-fiction articles.
To make connections between fiction and non-fiction pieces.
#1 Overview: What is Mob Mentality?
Mob mentality refers to the behavioral tendency of people (or other social animals) to act in unison with the group of which they are a part. This is an evolutionary adaptation that provides the mechanism for collective intelligence, but also explains how morally reprehensible consensus can form. Behaviors [can range] from gang rapes and beatings to the extermination of an entire people group. Human beings tend to exhibit very unique behaviors or habits once they’re in a group. Some sociologists call it “herd behavior” but it is more often described as “mob mentality.” Interestingly, it’s not just humans that behave that way. Flocks of birds and herds of animals have all exhibited similar behavior. The word “mob” has many negative connotations. One imagines a wild and aggressive crowd, feeding on each other’s panic (hence the other alternative term “crowd hysteria”). Certainly, sociologists and psychologists studying mob mentality have often focused on things like violent demonstrations or even the madness that can often ensue in evacuations, stampedes and crisis situations. There are also famous cases of people growing violent in something as mundane as a shoe sale. Thus, mob mentality has often become attached to the idea of human selfishness and competitiveness. Sometimes it is linked to desperation, such as people who will fight tooth and nail to access relief supplies, or rioting in the streets because of total terror.
What is the director’s purpose in producing this news story?
What evidence does the director use to develop his purpose?
#3 Fiction: Lord of the Flies
Reflect on the events in chapter 7 of Lord of the Flies. Why does the group come together as a whole? Why do they do things as a group that they would not do as individuals?
#4 Nonfiction: The New York Times “Held in a Fatal Beating, Boys Express Their Sorrow” The children and young men who kicked and beat Charles Young Jr. to death with baseball bats, bricks, poles and shovels on Sunday said afterward that they were sorry he was dead. They told the police they did not think they had hurt him that badly. Their statements to the police, containing errors, signed with childish signatures and first obtained today by The Associated Press, describe in detail how they hunted down their victim, known to them as June, after word spread that Mr. Young, 36, had chased a child who had thrown an egg at him and then punched one of the boy's friends, breaking one of his teeth. ''I feel kind of bad, because I did not know he was hurt that bad to make him die,'' said the boy who lost the tooth, a 14-year-old who is in the eighth grade. ''If I had of known he was beat that bad, to tell the truth, I would not had touch him at all.'' Witnesses said the boy had helped drag Mr. Young out of the house where he sought shelter from the mob, then beat him with a stick and a brick and kicked him. Afterward, witnesses told the police, this boy threw his blood-soaked shoes into a sewer. ''I am going to prey on his sol because I think some of this was my falt,'' the boy wrote. ''Maybe if I didn't hit him at all, I will not be no part of that. I do not want him to die because my tooth is not more important that his life. I'm sorry.'' Mr. Young died on Tuesday. Seven teenagers were charged today as adults with first-degree reckless homicide, The Associated Press reported. The youngest boy taken into custody, a 10-year-old, was charged as a juvenile with being party to the crime of reckless homicide. The evening began, however, with laughter, with teenagers sitting on a front porch on West Brown Street, ''ribbing on each other,'' as one put it. Mr. Young, whose friends said liked to joke around, had come by and ''started to sneak his ribs in,'' one boy said. At that point, a 10-year-old who had an egg passed it to a 13-year-old known as Bump, who threw it at Mr. Young. Mr. Young chased the boys, caught Bump, and pushed him down. The 14-year-old who later lost his tooth grabbed a baby stroller and threw it at Mr. Young, who caught it, threw it to the ground and left. The boys told the police that Mr. Young came back to the porch later that night and punched the 14-year-old in the mouth, knocking out a lower tooth. Another boy then hit Mr. Young with a metal chair, and others gathered poles, broomsticks, tree limbs, baseball bats and sticks. The group chased Mr. Young down an alley, where he sought refuge in a house. One of the boys who forced his way into the house began to shout, ''He got the knife out!'' as others fought their way in, beat Mr. Young with poles and broomsticks and dragged him out to the porch, where he was beaten and kicked to death. The 10-year-old confessed to hitting him with a tree limb. ''June was snoring, and his face was bloody,'' the child said later. An 18-year-old who had brought no weapon told the police he went into the backyard to look for something and found the handle of a shovel, which he used to hit Mr. Young on the back and legs, ''right at his muscle.'' He did it, the boy explained to the police, ''because everyone else had been hitting him lots of times,'' and the boy said that if he didn't join in, they would have thought he was scared. Another boy, 16, placed the victim in a ''face hold'' he had seen on televised wrestling but denied ''doing anything to the victim that would have caused any injury to him that could have resulted in his death.'' He told the police he is ''very sorry that Charlie got hurt so bad'' and that he ''didn't do anything to Charlie to make him die.'' One boy, who told the police he had hit the victim four times with a shovel until the handle broke in two, said he had stepped back after each blow so blood would not get on his clothes. He thought that Mr. Young, who was lying on his side, ''went to sleep.'' Bump, the boy who threw the egg, said he left the beating shortly after it began because his cousin appeared and told him, ''Your momma said get out of here.'' Two of the boys who left Mr. Young bleeding and dying on the porch said they went home and listened to the radio and ate.
Thomas, Jo. "Held in a Fatal Beating, Boys Express Their Sorrow." NYTimes.com. The New York Times, 4 Oct. 2002.Web. 1 May 2011.
What explanations do the boys give for their actions?
SYNTHESIS TASK: You have read four texts on mob mentality. All four highlight the dangers of this phenomenon. The four texts are:
Overview: What is Mob Mentality?
Video Clip: CNN – “Mob Mentality Escalates Violence”
Fiction: Lord of the Flies
Nonfiction: The New York Times “Held in a Fatal Beating, Boys Express Their Sorrow”
After reading these selections, consider the incidents presented and determine your insights on mob mentality. Identify evidence from at least three of the selections that illustrate your insights.
Post documents and questions for the Scituate Grade 10 Task Here:
English 2
Unit: The Good Society
Lord of the Flies Ch. 7 Connections: PARCC Sample Exercise
Objectives:
#1 Overview: What is Mob Mentality?
Mob mentality refers to the behavioral tendency of people (or other social animals) to act in unison with the group of which they are a part. This is an evolutionary adaptation that provides the mechanism for collective intelligence, but also explains how morally reprehensible consensus can form. Behaviors [can range] from gang rapes and beatings to the extermination of an entire people group.
Human beings tend to exhibit very unique behaviors or habits once they’re in a group. Some sociologists call it “herd behavior” but it is more often described as “mob mentality.” Interestingly, it’s not just humans that behave that way. Flocks of birds and herds of animals have all exhibited similar behavior.
The word “mob” has many negative connotations. One imagines a wild and aggressive crowd, feeding on each other’s panic (hence the other alternative term “crowd hysteria”). Certainly, sociologists and psychologists studying mob mentality have often focused on things like violent demonstrations or even the madness that can often ensue in evacuations, stampedes and crisis situations. There are also famous cases of people growing violent in something as mundane as a shoe sale. Thus, mob mentality has often become attached to the idea of human selfishness and competitiveness. Sometimes it is linked to desperation, such as people who will fight tooth and nail to access relief supplies, or rioting in the streets because of total terror.
"What Is Mob Mentality?" Brainz.org. Web. 1 May 2011. <http://brainz.org/what-mob-mentality/>.
#2 Video Clip: CNN – “Mob Mentality Escalates Violence”
//http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/crime/2009/09/28/snow.chicago.mob.mentality.cnn.html//
#3 Fiction: Lord of the Flies
#4 Nonfiction: The New York Times “Held in a Fatal Beating, Boys Express Their Sorrow”
The children and young men who kicked and beat Charles Young Jr. to death with baseball bats, bricks, poles and shovels on Sunday said afterward that they were sorry he was dead. They told the police they did not think they had hurt him that badly.
Their statements to the police, containing errors, signed with childish signatures and first obtained today by The Associated Press, describe in detail how they hunted down their victim, known to them as June, after word spread that Mr. Young, 36, had chased a child who had thrown an egg at him and then punched one of the boy's friends, breaking one of his teeth.
''I feel kind of bad, because I did not know he was hurt that bad to make him die,'' said the boy who lost the tooth, a 14-year-old who is in the eighth grade. ''If I had of known he was beat that bad, to tell the truth, I would not had touch him at all.''
Witnesses said the boy had helped drag Mr. Young out of the house where he sought shelter from the mob, then beat him with a stick and a brick and kicked him. Afterward, witnesses told the police, this boy threw his blood-soaked shoes into a sewer.
''I am going to prey on his sol because I think some of this was my falt,'' the boy wrote. ''Maybe if I didn't hit him at all, I will not be no part of that. I do not want him to die because my tooth is not more important that his life. I'm sorry.''
Mr. Young died on Tuesday. Seven teenagers were charged today as adults with first-degree reckless homicide, The Associated Press reported.
The youngest boy taken into custody, a 10-year-old, was charged as a juvenile with being party to the crime of reckless homicide.
The evening began, however, with laughter, with teenagers sitting on a front porch on West Brown Street, ''ribbing on each other,'' as one put it. Mr. Young, whose friends said liked to joke around, had come by and ''started to sneak his ribs in,'' one boy said.
At that point, a 10-year-old who had an egg passed it to a 13-year-old known as Bump, who threw it at Mr. Young. Mr. Young chased the boys, caught Bump, and pushed him down. The 14-year-old who later lost his tooth grabbed a baby stroller and threw it at Mr. Young, who caught it, threw it to the ground and left.
The boys told the police that Mr. Young came back to the porch later that night and punched the 14-year-old in the mouth, knocking out a lower tooth.
Another boy then hit Mr. Young with a metal chair, and others gathered poles, broomsticks, tree limbs, baseball bats and sticks. The group chased Mr. Young down an alley, where he sought refuge in a house.
One of the boys who forced his way into the house began to shout, ''He got the knife out!'' as others fought their way in, beat Mr. Young with poles and broomsticks and dragged him out to the porch, where he was beaten and kicked to death.
The 10-year-old confessed to hitting him with a tree limb. ''June was snoring, and his face was bloody,'' the child said later.
An 18-year-old who had brought no weapon told the police he went into the backyard to look for something and found the handle of a shovel, which he used to hit Mr. Young on the back and legs, ''right at his muscle.''
He did it, the boy explained to the police, ''because everyone else had been hitting him lots of times,'' and the boy said that if he didn't join in, they would have thought he was scared.
Another boy, 16, placed the victim in a ''face hold'' he had seen on televised wrestling but denied ''doing anything to the victim that would have caused any injury to him that could have resulted in his death.'' He told the police he is ''very sorry that Charlie got hurt so bad'' and that he ''didn't do anything to Charlie to make him die.''
One boy, who told the police he had hit the victim four times with a shovel until the handle broke in two, said he had stepped back after each blow so blood would not get on his clothes. He thought that Mr. Young, who was lying on his side, ''went to sleep.''
Bump, the boy who threw the egg, said he left the beating shortly after it began because his cousin appeared and told him, ''Your momma said get out of here.''
Two of the boys who left Mr. Young bleeding and dying on the porch said they went home and listened to the radio and ate.
Thomas, Jo. "Held in a Fatal Beating, Boys Express Their Sorrow." NYTimes.com. The New York Times, 4 Oct. 2002.Web. 1 May 2011.
SYNTHESIS TASK:
You have read four texts on mob mentality. All four highlight the dangers of this phenomenon. The four texts are:
- Overview: What is Mob Mentality?
- Video Clip: CNN – “Mob Mentality Escalates Violence”
- Fiction: Lord of the Flies
- Nonfiction: The New York Times “Held in a Fatal Beating, Boys Express Their Sorrow”
After reading these selections, consider the incidents presented and determine your insights on mob mentality. Identify evidence from at least three of the selections that illustrate your insights.